James McDonald’s pitching helps Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Houston Astros 3-1 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting pitcher, James McDonald outclassed the batters by pitching perfectly as he struck-out six batters with an ERA of just 3.98 in the Pirates’ 3-1 victory against the Houston Astros at PNC Park, Pittsburgh on September 5.
In the first two innings, the batters were shaky in front of the tricky pitches as at right field, Astros’ second baseman Jose Altuve flied out. At short-stop position, Jordan Schafer grounded out and J.D. Martinez struck-out swinging without adding any
run during first inning. Similarly, Pirates’ batters were also unsteady with their bats as at the bottom of second inning, Neil Walker walked but Derrek Lee flied out and Josh Harrison fouled out to second base.
Astros took their initial run in the third inning when Altuve tripled to deep right-field and Henry Sosa scored a single run to give his team a 1-0 lead. At the bottom of fourth inning, Pirates added two runs to take a 2-1 lead. Ryan Doumit hit a double-run
shot to deep centre-field and Andrew McCutchen posted a tie run for Pirates.
The second or leading run for the Pirates was taken by Lee when Harrison singled off centre-field and Doumit occupied third base. Harrison advanced to second base on the throwing error of the Astros’ fielders to end the fourth inning. The pitchers gave their
teams confidence as they threw in accurate line from the fifth to the seventh inning.
McDonald pitched just over seven innings and permitted three hits, one run, three walks and one earned run on his 91 pitches. McDonald said, “I feel like things are going in the right direction right now, just getting ahead of guys. I think that's the big
key to the success today.”
Doumit said, “No one wants to pitch under those circumstances. For him to go out and pitch the way he's pitched just gives you a glimpse of what he's capable of.”
Astros missed some runs in the sixth inning when Schafer singled to right-field but the rest of his team-mates got out without taking runs. At centre-field, Carlos Lee flied out as Schafer got out at home plate. In the eighth inning, Lee struck a one-run
homer (372 feet) towards right-field to raise the Pirates’ lead 3-1.
As a result, Pirates were on top 1-0 in the three-game series at Pittsburgh.
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